Did Coppola behave inappropriately on the set of Megalopolis? Producers defend the director

Francis Ford Coppola behaved inappropriately on the set of the movie Megalopolis?! The producer defends the director

According to a transcript published today in The Guardian, Francis Ford Coppola allegedly behaved inappropriately toward extras while working on “Megalopolis.”

He allegedly attracted women to him by forcing them to sit on his lap -We read in the report. Witnesses say that while working on a nightclub party scene, Coppola entered the set and tried to kiss some topless or semi-nude extras. He claimed that this was his way of trying to put them in the right mood.

Darren Demeter, co-executive producer of “Megalopolis,” defends the director. In a statement reported by Variety, he described the situation that sparked the accusations from his perspective:

Over the course of two days, we worked on a scene filmed in a Studio 54-inspired club. Francis walked around the set to get the crew in a good mood, chatting amiably with cast members and extras, and giving them hugs and kisses on the cheek. . This was his way of creating a club atmosphere, which is very important to the film. While working on the project, I did not receive any complaints regarding inappropriate behavior or harassment on his part.

The World of Reel blog, in turn, quotes part of an email from an unnamed Hollywood producer, who has no doubt that the whole thing is a plot to discredit the legendary director:

This is nothing more than a smear campaign by scary studios who downplay him as a threat to their business models. This is a conspiracy to destroy him.

History of “Megalopolis”. Watch the trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s dream project

“Megalopolis” features among others: Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Voight. Watch the trailer:

Megalopolis takes place in a utopian version of New York (called New Rome), which has been destroyed as a result of an unimaginable catastrophe. Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screenplay for the film in the 1980s. Production was about to go ahead in 2001, but the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center scuppered those plans. Subsequent sponsors began to withdraw from the project, and the director focused on smaller, more personal works. To finance the project, Coppola decided in 2022 to sell part of his vineyards. $120 million was spent on production.